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5.1 Offensiveness under section 17 of the Act
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Section 17(1)(b)(ii) of the Act makes specific reference to the need to consider whether the use or registration of a mark would be likely to offend Māori.
Where the Māori Trade Marks Advisory Committee advises that the application contains matter that is offensive or, likely to be offensive to Māori, IPONZ will raise a concern that the mark is not registrable under section 17(1)(b)(ii) of the Act. For more information please see Absolute Grounds General.
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